


Escalation

by gala_apples



Category: Bandom, Glee, My Chemical Romance, The Used
Genre: Bullying, Exhibitionism, Gay Rights, M/M, Podfic Available, Threats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-26
Updated: 2012-01-26
Packaged: 2017-10-30 03:50:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/327429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gala_apples/pseuds/gala_apples
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The new student at McKinley doesn't take kindly to homophobia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Escalation

**Author's Note:**

> So this is written as though Gerard Way circa Projekt Rev was invited into New Directions rather than Sunshine Corazon in the first episode of season two. I can only imagine Gerard would not be impressed with Karofsky and Azimio, and so I wrote that.
> 
> ETA: March 24th 2013- reena_jenkins has made podfic, it can be found [here](http://reena-jenkins.livejournal.com/122374.html).

Halfway through Mr Schue’s opener about the next song they’re going to sing, the newest member of Glee raises his hand. Kurt’s nose wrinkles. He can almost _see_ the waves of odor coming from the grungy kid, even sitting several chairs down with Mercedes. He’s not exactly sure how Finn managed to recruit him, but Kurt doesn’t think it’s too much to ask that the members of Glee don’t smell bad. Surely there must be students willing to join to add strength to background vocals that actually follow hygiene practices.

“Yes, Gerard?”

He drops his hand, running it through his black shag before it settles back into his lap. Frankly, Kurt’s surprised his fingers don’t get stuck. “I was wondering what you do for the stage show?”

“Well, we have matching costumes and we generally try to create a dance routine. Mike and Brittany are both really good at-”

Gerard interrupts, “Okay, but the actual _show_. Do you have painted backdrops, or characterisations you’re fulfilling? Sometimes some artistic integrity can make all the difference. Like, at the last talent show me and Frankie did ‘I love hardcore boys, I love boys hardcore’, and made out a bit. Well, before the fascist principal pulled us off stage saying no sexual shit at school. Excuse me, I’m pretty fucking sure the group of girls before us dancing to a bleeped out Sexy Bitch by Akon were being sexual. But-”

“You’re gay?” Tina asks. Kurt doesn’t know why half the class is looking at him. It’s not as though he’s about to maul their newest member. Gerard looks like he hasn’t washed in days, and Kurt’s positive he was wearing the same shirt yesterday.

Gerard shrugs. “You don’t need to be gay to make out with a guy. Everyone does it.”

Puck replies quickly. “No, they fucking don’t, dude.”

Gerard shrugs again. “Everyone I know does. A lot of girlfriends like it, and it’s fun. Besides, continuum of sexuality, man. Haven’t you ever heard of Kinsey? No one is completely straight or completely gay. And even if you think you won’t enjoy it, it’s fun to do it just to piss people off. I’ve been here like three days and I’ve heard a ton of stories about you Puck, you must understand how awesome it is to piss people off. In certain crowds it’s better than saying their mom is a fat cowfucker.”

“Huh.”

Kurt stares. No way has some greasy new kid gotten Noah Puckerman to accept gay people.

Mr Schuester calls everyone’s attention back to the front of the class with “focus guys. Gerard, I’m sorry but Sue will never allow us to-”

Kurt tunes out as Mr Schuester once again blames his cheerleading coach for every problem in the world. He wouldn’t be surprised if Schue tries to institute some kind of swear jar. Gerard’s dropping bombs all over the place, which will only encourage Puck and Santana.

At least he’s not the only one to think Gerard’s insane. When practice is over Gerard is the first out of the room, muttering at the phone in his hands about Mikey being a lazy fucker while texting something rapidly. Mr Schue leaves too, but the original eleven stay.

“The first time he tells Azimio that he’s not totally straight because you can’t be he’s going to get murdered.” Finn states. No one disagrees.

“We can’t afford for him to be murdered. He’s got a good voice and we need twelve members for sectionals.” Rachel only likes Gerard because he’s male and thus can’t steal her spotlight. Still, Kurt has to agree. Being gross doesn’t stop him from having a good voice.

“Can you talk to him?” Artie asks.

Having one on one time with Gerard Way really does not fit in Kurt's agenda. “I am not the magic gay problem solver.”

“You think he moved from Canada?”

“Or Europe, I hear they like gays and hookers.”

“Does that mean he won’t make out with me?”

Santana snorts at Brittany’s question. “You heard him, not everyone’s completely anything. He’ll be all over you.”

The whole of Glee is pretty much expecting a problem, especially after spokesman Finn utterly fails at explaining why at McKinley you don’t make out while singing about liking hardcore boys the next morning. When it happens, Kurt’s in the hall to witness it. Karofsky calls someone a faggot and Gerard, who apparently has no idea what self-preservation is, walks up to him and yells at him that he’s homophobic. Which is kind of pathetic, really, because _obviously_.

“What are you gonna do about it? Fag.”

“This, dickhole.” Without any other warning, Gerard punches Karofsky in the face.

For a few seconds it’s the most gorgeous thing he’s ever seen. Which is saying a lot, Kurt spends a lot of his free time checking out fashion designers websites. Then the football team swarms and shoves Gerard outside. Kurt follows, far back enough that they don’t make it a two for one deal. The tossing of the fag into the dumpster is entirely inevitable, but Kurt still winces slightly as he hears Gerard’s body hit the plastic bags with a squish-crunch.

Once the jocks have retreated back to their natural habitat Kurt tries to help Gerard to climb out. Normally he’d wait until his fellow Glee member was out of the dumpster to help them clean up, not wanting to get any nearer to the filth then he had to. This is different though. It’s Gerard’s first time and he doesn’t look like the nimble type. He probably doesn’t know where to put his feet to properly lever himself out.

His offer gets rebuffed. Gerard tells him it can wait a minute, he has something more important first. From inside the dumpster he calls someone, most sentences only partially finished and spoken fast enough that Kurt doesn’t really know what he’s talking about. It’s only after Gerard hangs up that he flips himself out of the giant garbage receptacle, in what has to be the most awkward and painful attempt that Kurt’s seen. He smells like oily pizza and black bananas, and Kurt carefully moves upwind. Gerard doesn’t seem to notice.

When Gerard asks if he wants to skip next period, Kurt agrees out of some combination of queer solidarity, Glee solidarity, and hating the class he has the period before lunch. Missing geography can only be a positive in his book, even if it’s to hang out with someone with Gerard’s (absolute lack of) style.

Forty five minutes later a car pulls into the school parking lot. Kurt normally wouldn’t notice, except the van is completely covered in the white residue of worn away bumper stickers. It stops in front of them, Kurt sitting where he can’t smell Gerard’s cigarette. Out of the driver’s seat pops a short guy, arms covered tattoos. Unless Kurt’s guessing the wrong age, each needleprick of colour is definitely illegal.

Gerard grins, showing off his creepy mini shark teeth as the short guy tells him he smells like ass. “Fuck off, Frank, I was in a motherfucking dumpster.”

“Right, because I’m sure you smelled like roses this morning.” The van giggles, or at least someone in the back of it does. “This is going to be _fun_ , man.”

Gerard turns to walk back into McKinley, Frank sprinting the first few steps to catch up with him. Kurt looks at the van, waiting for the doubled back doors to open and Gerard’s other friend to climb out. When they stay closed, Kurt follows both of them. Better someone he sort of knows than van dwelling strangers. Besides, it’s lunch. If he can find Mercedes and Artie in the mass of students he can leave Gerard altogether.

By the time he’s in the cafeteria Gerard and Frank are dangerously close to the jock table. He’s not sure how they don’t see it, considering almost every meathead is wearing his letter jacket. Kurt’s about to tell them to sit somewhere else if they value their life when they come to a dead halt, Frank slightly behind Gerard. Frank’s hands land just above the front pockets on Gerard’s jeans, fingers slipping to move under the hem of his faded gamer shirt. Gerard twists a bit, neck arching until Frank can lean forward and kiss him. The longer it lasts the less of a kiss it becomes; the addition of Frank pulling Gerard tight to his hips, that anyone who cared to look could see Gerard’s tongue between Frank’s open lips, the hand that snakes back to Frank’s ass in a lower repetition of Gerard’s craned neck, it all adds up to them making out.

There’s no question that it’s hot. On one hand, neither are Kurt’s type, too grimy and rough, obvious examples of the ‘hardcore boys’ they sang about. On the other, it’s two teenage boys making out. Kurt’s never seen men making out in real life, at some point Queer As Folk stops counting. He can’t look away, recording every moment for possible use later, in the shower.

The problem is, he’s not alone. Most of the cafeteria is looking, and while the football players are currently in a stasis of shocked silence, any moment they’re going to snap out of it. While he appreciates the show, Kurt would really have liked warning that provoking jocks was the event about to occur. He probably wouldn’t have followed the gleek and the stranger inside. 

In every situation there’s a time to make a pithy comment and a time to flee. This situation is vastly the latter. Before Kurt can do as much as turn, Frank separates from Gerard to half monkey climb onto the jock-table. He plants his hands firmly so he doesn’t topple off and he plants his lips on Azimio’s. If Kurt believed in a god he’d start praying now that they make it out alive.

Frank scrambles down, shoving Gerard in front of him as they take off. Half the football team gets up to tear after them, Azimio and Karofsky in the lead. Kurt has no choice but to follow. The two grungy boys will need to have a witness when they charge the jocks with assault. He’d almost be grateful if that mouthbreather Jacob with his camera showed up. Visual recording would be better than his testimony.

They’re almost at the car. If they can just cram into the front seat they can drive away and not worry about retribution until later. Kurt’s including himself in that, it’s a spectacularly bad idea to be the only gay boy left in the school with a bunch of furious jocks. He can figure out how to get back to his own car later. 

A few feet away Frank and Gerard stop. Kurt barely restrains himself from screaming at them to get in the car. The pause gives the members of the team time to catch up, and Kurt knows he’s going to die. That’s when Frank shouts out “hey Bob!”

The doubled doors on the back of the van pop open with a screech of metal. Not just Bob, a quick headcount proves six people pile out. Each one is holding a baseball bat, except for a tall kid with glasses and an excellent pair of boots that do not fit with the disgusting shirt and ratty jeans he’s wearing. Tall Guy momentarily has two before attempting to toss one to Frank. It’s a horrible throw, but Frank scurries forward and catches it before it hits the pavement.

The shortest one, long black hair tangled over the back of his black hoodie, holds up his bat, putting it into perfect position at his shoulder. Then another extremely illegally tattooed teenager -this one with huge gauges in his ears compared to Frank’s smaller ones- put a hand on Short Guy’s bat. “We said talking first.”

All of it is enough to stop jocks where they stand. Kurt can’t blame them, he’s essentially frozen too. Gerard on the other hand seems quite happy as he explains “these are my friends. Well, I have a few more-”

“Dan says he’s sorry he can’t be here. He can’t skip the period after lunch anymore, he’s already missed eight times.”

“In three weeks?”

“Lunch at Jepha’s gets distracting,” the blond one on the other side of the Short Guy says with a shrug, which makes Gauges smile.

Gerard continues. “They don’t quite add up to a football team, but it’s enough to-”

“Fuck your shit up?” the one with long and curly Metallica hair suggests. He has a surprisingly high voice considering his look.

“So how about you fucking stop with the beating up shit?” It’s said pleasantly enough, but the football team just stares at Gerard, and the guys backing him. It’s actually rather satisfying to see the popular kids so thrown off.

“Or next time we’ll bring someone more permanent than bats.” If Frank means what Kurt thinks he means... well, honestly, he wouldn’t be all that surprised. He looks like a thug, albeit a miniature one. It’s definitely illegal for him to have the tattoos he does, he could probably get drugs or hookers or a gun from the same place that would tattoo a minor.

“Fucking freaks!” Karofsky spits out.

“Quinn! He called me a freak! Can I break his kneecap? No scholarship for you motherfucker!” Short Guy cackles.

“Dude, we call you a freak like ten times a day. Chill out.”

Kurt has no doubts that Short Guy really would break someone’s kneecap. He looks sketchy as hell, worse than Frank or Gauges or the supplier of Frank’s baseball bat with the gorgeous boots. It doesn’t seem like Azimio has any doubts either, he’s the first to turn around and start walking back inside. There’s not even a parting shot of another name or slur, like they’re worried that might be the last straw that makes Short Guy snap.

“We’ve got time for lunch before we gotta go back. Sixth period is a lab for me and Jepha,” Metallica explains.

“Awesome.”

“What, you’ve been pining for us? You live with Mikey, you see us at least a few times a week.”

“Yeah, but this school sucks balls,” Gerard explains to the blond one. Then he turns to Kurt. “You wanna crawl in the van and eat with us? Guys, this is Kurt. The shit I told you about, Kurt’s been putting up with it every fucking day. Isn’t that fucked?”

“Wait, those cunts did that to you too?” Kurt stares at Short Guy. How can he sound so shocked about high school bullying? “If you lure one back out here I’ll fuck him up. I just don’t want to do it with teachers around, I’ll get arrested or some shit.”

“I’m going to find Mercedes and Artie and eat with them, actually.”

Gerard shrugs, saying he’ll see him later at practice as Frank says something about it being nice to meet him. Kurt heads for the cafeteria. Better to see now rather than later if the jocks’ fear of bodily harm extends to him.

By the end of the day, everyone’s heard about Gerard Way almost pulling a Columbine in the parking lot. Well, all the students. It’s not the sort of thing teachers find out about. Willful ignorance is what makes McKinley run. Kurt’s the only one who knows the truth of the situation. Being a witness to that makes him more curious about the new student. He can only hold back so long before leaning over and asking “was that how you got kicked out of your old school? A insane gay rights protest?”

“No. My boyfriend and I got caught with a joint. Well, it was his, but whatever. I knew shit was about to go down so I said it was mine. Bert would probably have dropped out of school rather than trying it without Quinn. It was easier if I left. There was like a week left of school so they let me take my exams and told me not to come back the next year.”

“Which one was Bert?” It’s a solid assumption that Bert was in the gathering at lunch.

“Shorter, long black hair, good for grabbing,” Gerard says the last with a dirty smirk on his face. 

“The guy who wanted to beat everyone.” _The psychopath_ is unsaid but Gerard hears it anyway.

“He’s easier to take stoned, either him or whoever he’s with. It’s why Quinn’s better for him, I'm not as into it as they are. Besides, I sort of fell in love with this girl over the summer. But I haven’t seen her since July and Mikey said he saw her with Jimmy and Chantel so I dunno. Maybe I’ll find some guy or girl here.”

Kurt feels almost bad for bursting his bubble. “I’m the only out guy here.”

“For now,” Gerard answers. Kurt’s not so sure he’s right. Yeah he's got the football team convinced he and his creepy friends will kill everyone if they don’t shut up. That doesn’t mean McKinley’s suddenly going to be a gay utopia. But Mr Schuester is talking about what Kurt fears is another Journey song, and that’s a far more important intervention than trying to show Gerard the realities of high school. Gerard will figure it out on his own, possibly bringing his friends back if he sees fit. Mr Schue will never figure out that no one under thirty likes Journey.


End file.
